Dance Download Tracks of the Week

Every week JOE’s dance music writer, DJ Craig G, tips five essential tracks. Up this week is TwoThirds, Ghostpoet, Esther Phillips, Keep Shelly in Athens and Chad Valley.

TwoThirds, Essence. Download here.

English-born Lewis Dransfield is a 17-year-old drum 'n' bass/trance producer who records under the moniker TwoThirds. He started making his own music in January 2010, but it wasn't until later in the year, after listening to and taking influence from Californian producer Oscillist, that he decided to make the move towards producing drum 'n' bass.

He has since signed to the Point 9 Audio, Offworld Recordings, Deep Revelations, Dirt Lies, FiXT and DLA Black imprints; the latter of which have also taken him on board as part of their management team. He also scouts for up-and-coming produces.

Dransfield, who has made his Essence release available to us exclusively as a free download (which is available above), is in the very early stages of his musical journey, and without a shadow of a doubt he is soon going to make his mark within the ever-evolving drum 'n' bass scene. I contacted him earlier in the week to ask him about his love of music and future plans and he shared this with me:

"For the future, I just plan on making music like I do now. Music for me, I don't want to 'sell out' as people say, my music is really personal to me so it is honestly great if people enjoy it, it really means a lot to me, every compliment I get."

Essence is a wonderful piece of euphoric liquid-funk. It's rife with lush pads and uplifting strings driven by an understated bass-line and crisp, jet-propelled kicks. Marry this with the ambient, intonated break and you've got yourself a sure-fire winner. Watch this space because this kid's going to go far.

Listen here:

Keep Shelly in Athens, Haunting Me (The New Division Remix). Download here.

Keep Shelly In Athens are a down-tempo, melancholy electro/disco-vibed duo made up of a 21-year-old vocalist that goes by the name of Sarah and a producer called R??. They are rather predictably from Athens but that’s where the predictability ends. KSIA are a band that likes to shroud itself in secrecy.

What I do know is, they have released an eight-track cassette that is super-limited to 150 copies as part of the ongoing relief efforts in Japan. A debut EP titled: In Love With Dusk was released last year and they have also remixed (and made available as free downloads from soundcloud) Blood Diamonds’ Lasting Love, Brothertiger's Evening Glow, Porcelain Raft's Tip Of Your Tongue, Sacred Animals’ Chosen Seed, Solar Bear’s Cub and D/R/U/G/S’ - Love/Lust. Apart from that, I'm in the dark.

Their sound, which has been likened to French band Air's 'Moon Safari' era and St Etienne with Balearic-pop undertones, is the perfect soundtrack to lazy day's lying in the sun with your favourite drink languishing in a bucket of ice by your side.

Hauntin' Me/Song to Cheer You Up, their debut UK single, was originally released as a 7" double A-side on the transparent imprint, but it is now due for a digital release featuring remixes by Blood Diamonds, D Paris and Los Angeles band The New Division. It also features a remix of Song to Cheer You Up by Maria Minerva.

The New Division's stunning remix of Hauntin' is a smooth, dreamy affair that floats through your consciousness like an early morning mist, massaging your soul in the process. From its opening guitar riff, muted brass and rolling kicks through to its ethereal synths and wispy, almost evocative vocal, this release just keeps on giving.

Listen here:

Ghostpoet, Survive It. Download here.

London-born Obara Ejimiwe, aka Ghostpoet, is a 24-year-old rapper who also produces his own beats. He first started making waves in June 2010 when he released a free EP entitled The Sound Of Strangers which Comprised of four tracks; three original compositions and a remix of A Tribe Called Quest’s Electric Relaxation (Relax Yourself Girl).

Since then he has gone from strength to strength, dropping his debut single Cash & Carry Me Home back in January to critical acclaim.

Ejimiwe, whom has already drawn comparisons to Tricky, Roots Manuva and the late, great Gil Scott Heron, met up with Gilles Peterson who thought he'd "got something going on".

So, Gilles signed him up to his Brownswood imprint and suggested that he make an album. The resulting Mike Skinner-approved bedroom-produced debut album, Peanut Butter Blues And Melancholy Jam, showcases his immense musical diversity, taking influence from artists such as MF Doom, Iggy Pop, Radiohead, Squarepusher, Badly Drawn Boy and Fela Kuti, while moving seamlessly across a sonic spectrum of genres.

Survive it, the second single from his hotly tipped debut album, comes with a raft of remixes from Koreless, dBridge, Deep Medi's Quests and Roots Manuva – who lays down a verse of his own. As good as the remixes are, I feel the strongest of the package is the original slo-mo, down-tempo electronic ride that borrows, albeit lightly, from Buffalo Springfield's anti-war classic For What Its Worth.

Couple this with Ejimiwe's unique, lazy-baritoned vocal sophistication and guest vocalist Fabiana Palladino's touch of soul and we have a minimalist masterpiece of unflowered greatness that pushes all the right buttons.

Listen here:

Chad Valley, Now That I'm Real (How Does It Feel). Download here.

Hugo Manuel is a chill-wave artist from Oxford. He records under the alias Chad Valley, is the lead singer of the band Jonquil and the founding member of the Blessing Force collective. In November of last year he caused a splash when he released his first EP which featured the ubiquitous feel good anthem Up And Down.

Next month Manuel is set to release his sophomore EP titled: Equatorial Ultravox , but for now we'll have to make do with his new single – it’s a small but delicious taste of what's to come.

Now That I'm Real, which features vocals from Rose Dagul of Rhosyn fame, is an airy and spacious, lo-fi excursion that's rich in style and panache. It blends uplifting and emotional soundscapes of steel drums, synth pads and deft percussion to summon beautiful, vaporous images of technicoloured sunsets.

Listen here:

Esther Phillips, Home is Where the Hatred is. Download here.

I find it quite hard to write about Gil Scott Heron without feeling a twinge of sadness. His contribution to music through the years has been immense. From his early poetic and socially apt spoken-word ditties to his blues, soul and jazz fusions he has always been at the forefront, speaking his mind and pushing his sometimes hard-hitting truths with his gravel-voiced gruffness without fear of reprisals.

Heron, credited as the godfather of rap, is responsible for releasing a library of memorable tracks through the years such as The Bottle, Lady Day and John Coltrane, The Revolution Will Not Be Televised and my personal favourite the 1971 timeless classic Home Is Where the Hatred Is – which later became a hit for R&B singer Esther Phillips.

Phillips turned Herons reality-soaked tale into a sombre, brass-stabbed slice of string-laden funk that drips with some very emotive moments. It's a song that gets me every time and will continue to do so for a long time yet.

I first discovered this rare gem after being advised by a well known Irish DJ/producer to purchase a Blaxploitation box-set that in his own words contained "a wealth of samples". At the time, I was unaware that Home Is Where The Hatred Is was one of Heron's best autobiographical works.

It is a tale of Heron's now well documented battle with addiction, the lonely isolation he had to endure within the hopeless environment in which he lived and his having to deal with the uneducated opinions of the people who surrounded him at that time. Without question, this is a true masterpiece.

Listen here:

JOE’s Dance Downloads is compiled by veteran DJ Craig G. The Dubliner has performed sets in numerous clubs during the course of his 18-year career including The Dragon Nightclub in Dublin and The Vic Nightclub in Galway. His mixes, meanwhile, have been featured on 2fm. Craig G has been working with Rampage School of Dance for the past eight years, putting scores for their live performances. Their last collaboration enjoyed a sold-out run at The Mermaid Arts Theatre.

If you want to get in touch in order to heap praise, condemnation or to tip a dance track you think might be worthy of inclusion, click here.